“To punch above your weight you need to use every single advantage you have. If you try to pick a new market you know nothing about, you’re giving up one of your core advantages.”

“Start serving the audience you already belong to.”

How can people break out of their insecurity? “It’s not a question of ‘who you are’. Do your research: what does it tell you? You don’t have to wonder ‘what do I have to offer that people want?’ Look at your resume.”

“Always be researching customers; never stop. I look wherever people congregate: forums, mailing lists, blog posts, off-hand comments from people on Twitter, support portals, user groups.”

“Don’t walk up and ask people what their problems are; you have to observe.”

Where do you keep your customer research notes? “I use a text file. Simple as that. Don’t use fancy tools.”

“For content marketing, I take what I’ve learned in my research phase, and write posts around that.”

When we sell people things, are we pandering to their narcism? “It’s not narcissistic to think about yourself, and what you need. It’s narcissistic to think that everything’s about you.”

“We don’t have to add new features to compete. New features don’t always make a product better.”

Show notes

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